Jefferson's Domestic Policies

Agriculture

Thomas Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican, and his election in 1800 marked a shift in power from the previous Federalist administrations. His overriding goal as president was the promotion of political democracy and the physical expansion of the country to provide land for a nation of citizen-farmers. His ideal citizen was a yeoman, or a farmer who owned and lived off his own land, rather than one who relied on wages from an employer. (Jefferson also admired skilled artisans and tradesmen, placing them in a similar category as the yeomen.) For Jefferson, political democracy only could flow from an economically independent citizenry. In pursuit of these goals, he sought to pare down the executive branch—not because of an aversion to government per se, but rather because of his fear that, as had happened in the United Kingdom, a powerful central government would only help those who were already wealthy and powerful.

Over the course of his two terms as president—he was reelected in 1804—Jefferson reversed the policies of the Federalist party by turning away from urban commercial development. Instead, he promoted agriculture through the sale of western public lands in small and affordable lots. Perhaps Jefferson’s most lasting legacy is his vision of an “empire of liberty.” He distrusted cities and instead envisioned a rural republic of land-owning white men, or Republican yeomen. He wanted the United States to be the breadbasket of the world, exporting its agricultural commodities without suffering the ills of urbanization and industrialization. Because American yeomen would own their own land, they could stand up against those who might try to buy their votes with promises of property. 

Limited Government

Jefferson championed the rights of states and insisted on limited federal government as well as limited taxes. This stood in stark contrast to the Federalists’ insistence on a strong, active federal government. Jefferson also believed in fiscal austerity. He pushed for—and Congress approved—the end of all internal taxes, such as those on whiskey and rum. The most significant trimming of the federal budget came at the expense of the military; Jefferson did not believe in maintaining a costly military, and he slashed the size of the navy Adams had worked to build up. Nonetheless, Jefferson responded to the capture of American ships and sailors by pirates off the coast of North Africa by leading the United States into war against the Muslim Barbary States in 1801, the first conflict fought by Americans overseas.

Education

Jefferson was very passionate about education, and in 1806 he pushed an amendment into congress that would legalize federal support for public education. Congress did not pass it, so Jefferson gave it to his home state of Virginia so it could be used in their constitution. Jefferson made an understandable plan for education that included elementary, high school, and college levels. He had six goals for education that he hoped would make all people "productive and informed voters" by accomplishing the following:

• Allowing people to deal with their own business,
• Giving a people the ability to express their own opinions and ideas in writing,
• Bettering their thoughts and faculties through reading,
• Allowing people to comprehend their duties and the duties of their neighbors,
• Making people aware of their rights and how to use them, and
• Helping people use what they know in their social lives.

Foreign Policy

In his foreign policy, Jefferson was torn between his impulse toward expansion and the need to avoid war with France, Britain, and Spain. His administration's diplomatic and geopolitical position was complicated by the successful slave revolution in Haiti and Napoleon's attempt to reconquer the island. This led to his government's purchase of the Louisiana Territory (which included all of the land drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries up to the crest of the Rocky Mountains) from France in 1803. In addition, Jefferson sought unsuccessfully to incorporate Spanish Florida (including the Gulf Coast west to Louisiana) into the Union and engaged in a punitive war with the Barbary States of North Africa.

By his second term, Jefferson's attention drifted mostly to problems overseas. The global war between Great Britain and Napoleon's France was hurting American commerce. Jefferson responded with the Embargo Act—a total prohibition on foreign trade imposed in 1807. Despite the unpopularity this caused in maritime communities, especially in New England, Jefferson left office widely regarded as a successful President.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, was the third president of the United States.